"..." Evelyn-sama gives me a long, lingering kiss, and I just calmly accept it. I know full well this isn't out of real love or interest, or even her giving me a gift.

When Evelyn-sama gets nervous, scared, or paranoid, her narcissism spikes. That usually makes her seek "attention" from her own reflection. Her kissing me, as happy as it makes me, is not a kiss between her and me in her mind; it's a kiss between her and a reflection of herself she can actually touch.

When she kisses me, she doesn't see "Eve." When she kisses me, all she sees is a reflection of herself.

'This is... kind of sad...' I feel bad for her. Seeing someone so obsessed with their own self-image is sad, but it's not something I can fix. And if I ever brought it up, I know our relationship would become too awkward.

Soon, she breaks the kiss, leaving a strand of saliva between us, but she quickly becomes aware of everything and her face flares up with anger. She starts punching my chest, which isn't very effective because she's so... weak.

"Idiot, idiot! IDIOT!!" she says through her tears.

"Why did you do something so stupid?!! I-I... d-didn't need... you to jump in front of that tiger, I-I wasn't going to die, I-I wouldn't even have felt much pain!" she says as I hug her to calm her down.

"Because it is my duty to defend you, Evelyn-sama..." I know perfectly well she wouldn't have died. Unlike me, she has the finest body among the puppets, and she's also said one of her abilities gives her a 95% pain reduction.

If she were cut in two, it wouldn't even be a problem. She could still move by controlling both separate parts and easily reconnect them.

Unlike me. I'm a simpler puppet. Being cut in two would prevent me from moving or reacting, leaving me incapacitated. But the thing is, Evelyn-sama is... a coward.

I hate calling her that, but it's a fact that she is a coward. If she were cut in two, she would completely freeze up and be unable to do anything out of fear. Of course, throwing myself at the attack wasn't very smart on my part either.

Since with my body destroyed, Evelyn-sama was left alone, and if she hadn't used her domain, or if she had used it and it failed, she could have actually died—though even with her body devoured, that wouldn't guarantee her death.

Killing her is much harder than it seems because she's a puppet master and has insanely high vitality. But I could never let her be harmed, so I protected her like a reflex.

"You're such an idiot! L-Leaving me all alone, do you know how horrible it was to see you cut in two? I-It's... it's... l-like watching myself get killed..." When she says that, my spirits dampen a little, but I hide my sad expression.

'It was... what I expected...' I don't know if Evelyn-sama realizes it, but that phrase is quite cruel. I don't know why Evelyn-sama gave me her exact appearance, but sometimes she says things that imply she often values what I look like more than what I actually am.

As if... I only have value because I look exactly like her. I know she likes me, but phrases like that make me wonder if she would still like me if I had a different appearance.

"I'm sorry, I should have been more careful. If I had used my sword, I might have stopped the attack... but I was too hasty," I say to her, releasing the hug and bowing my head in apology.

She starts wiping her tears with her sleeve as I look over at the dead tiger. That thing was truly dangerous.

"It's fine... I'll forgive you for this... I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have been so petty earlier," she says, suddenly recovering after wiping her tears. Another thing I don't think she's ever noticed: she always recovers from things far too "quickly."

It's a strange rhythm. To her, it probably seems normal, but to me, who is always by her side, it's just... abnormal. A prime example was her trauma with me forcing her to dismantle the dead wolf's body.

She got over that way too fast to be considered "normal," since just hours later she helped dismantle another wolf. In the days that followed, she kept helping, getting more and more skilled at it while her negative reactions faded away.

This isn't to say I think it's a bad thing. It's just... strange. She is kind, but her kindness is also strange to me because I never know if she's kind because she likes who I am, or if she's kind because I have her appearance.

"Eve, I'm going to build another puppet! Besides, that tiger was probably summoned here to take someone's life. Let's look for that person and try to help as soon as we have time!" She's back to her normal, kind self.

'She is so kind...' She's always like this. Even now, she's still thinking about helping someone else.

"Yes, considering the floors, whoever fought the tiger is probably on this floor or the next three. We just need to follow the tiger's blood trail, and we should be able to find them," I say, already formulating a general strategy.

"Exactly! But we should build a new puppet first. This incident and you getting hurt just reinforced the obvious: we need a mage on the team to detect enemies and provide support in fights..." she says as I raise my hand to get her attention.

"Evelyn-sama, I have a question. That wolf's core was very... useful. Thanks to it, I gained an electrical ability, but... the ability mentions plasma. Do you know what plasma is?" When I ask this, she looks totally surprised.

"...Plasma? Your electrical ability uses plasma?" She quickly opens her system menu to observe my status. Her eyes widen, and she makes that thoughtful face with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Eve, plasma... well, plasma is the fourth state of matter... It's complicated to explain what plasma is without filling you with information you won't understand. You just need to know that plasma is like, way stronger than electricity... I mean, it's still electricity, but much more intense and it behaves differently."

"It's hotter, more persistent, more destructive, but it's also not very stable. And because it's unstable, it's also not good at following a path. Unlike normal electricity, which follows a pattern along its path, plasma tends to expand outward with force."

"So it's more of an explosive thing than something redirectable that follows various paths and branches... Think of it like... a ball of water! Electricity would be a jet of water shooting out from the ball in a straight line with small branches."

"Plasma would be an explosion that makes the water ball burst, flying out in all directions! In short, electricity goes straight, while plasma spreads out! I hope you understood," she says as I look around.

'The remnants of plasma are still noticeable...' It's a really strange thing. I still don't really understand what plasma is. With Evelyn-sama's explanation, I only gathered that plasma is electricity with a greater focus on being explosive rather than being a current.

I also understood that plasma is electricity, but it's uncontrolled, being hotter, more destructive, and considering its instability, it's better for close-quarters use with explosive strikes, like the ones I used on the tiger.

"Thank you for teaching me, Evelyn... sama..." I was about to thank her, but she just walked away to examine the tiger's body. I let out a long sigh and approach her as she stares at the tiger's corpse.

'If I understood correctly... I shouldn't touch the plasma remnants in the air...' It must still be hot, and if it's still emitting light, there must still be some degree of electricity in it, making it dangerous even after the fight is over.

'...' I look at Evelyn-sama, seeing the exact behavior I find strange. She's staring intently at the tiger, analyzing which parts to use for the new puppet.

But just a few days ago, she was crying and feeling sick just from having to see a wolf's body being cut open. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever understand how she adjusts so quickly to things she hates.

And maybe it's not good for me to know. I don't know much about Evelyn-sama's past, but I know it was bad. She had a sad life, and that's easy to guess just from her narcissism.

She tries to hide it, but it's hard to conceal how much she values the appearance she has, and her extremely self-promotional speeches where she says things she couldn't possibly claim to be.

"Eve, take its core, and also... two pounds of its meat... and... a few ounces of its fur..." she says, but then kneels on the ground, holding her head with her hands while her breathing becomes erratic. I bend down to hold her, but she collapses onto the ground.

Everything starts to shake. The floor and ceiling of the stage begin to crack like glass. Soon, everything shatters, with shards falling and disappearing while we find ourselves back in the swamp.

I hold Evelyn-sama, seeing that she's fainted. It seems using a domain was too much for her, despite her having a good amount of magic.

"...I will take care of you, Evelyn-sama. I'm sorry for worrying you and frightening you," I apologize as I start to carry her. I also head over to the tiger, grab its tail, and start pulling it, also retrieving my sword and bag.

'I need to set up a makeshift camp. Considering the magic radiating from the tiger's corpse, weaker monsters should stay away from us...' I plan to set up a place for Evelyn-sama to rest while I dismantle the tiger's body.

I start walking, looking for a dry area, and also think of a way to get clean water. I know one of the first things Evelyn-sama will want is water to clean herself.

'Whoever had to fight this tiger, if they're still alive, will just have to wait.' Evelyn-sama and I owe nothing to anyone. Evelyn-sama might want to go help, but my priority will always be Evelyn-sama.

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